French President Emmanuel Macron is set to issue an apology for France’s failure to intervene in the Rwanda genocide on its 30th anniversary. According to French media reports, Macron will acknowledge France’s lack of action to prevent the genocide, admitting that France, along with its Western and African allies, could have stopped the atrocity but lacked the will to do so.
The genocide, which took place between April and July 1994, resulted in the brutal massacre of an estimated 800,000 people, primarily Tutsi ethnic minority members, by Hutu militants. Macron will deliver his apology through a video message on social media on Sunday, coinciding with the anniversary of the genocide.
Although Macron was invited to attend a commemoration ceremony in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, he will not be present. Instead, France will be represented by Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Séjourné and Hervé Berville, a Rwandan-born genocide survivor and secretary of state for the sea.
The relationship between France and Rwanda has been strained for years due to France’s role in the genocide. A Rwandan government-commissioned report published in 2021 found that France played a significant role in enabling the genocide by supporting Rwanda’s regime.
While Macron visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial and acknowledged France’s responsibilities during a speech in 2021, he stopped short of issuing an official apology, asserting that France was not complicit in the violence. Despite Macron’s absence from Sunday’s ceremony, Rwandan President Paul Kagame expressed indifference, stating that Paris could send any representative they choose.
